Franklin f



. (No Model.)

F. P. KNOUS MAGAZINE FIRE ARM.

Patnted Oct. 25, 1887.

n l A UNIT D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANKLIN F. KN OUS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE COLTSPATENT FIRE ARMS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 372,153, dated October25, 1887,

Application filed August 1, 1887. Serial No. 245,788. (No,model.) I

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN F. KNOUS, of Hartford, in the county ofHartford and State of Connecticut, have invented new Improvements inMagazine Fire-Arms and I do hereby declare the following, when takeninconnection with accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in

Figure 1, a sectional side view of an arm illustrating the invention,showing the parts in the normal or closed condition; Fig. 2, the sameview as Fig. 1, showing the parts'in the position of the ,breech piecehaving com menced its opening movement; Fig. 3, a front end view of thecarrier; Fig. 4, a top view of aportion of the slide. Fig. 5 illustratesthe invention as applied to a second class of arms.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of magazinefire-arms in which the breech-piece is arranged to move longitudinallybackward and forward in opening and closing,and in which the magazine isarranged longitudinally beneath the barrel, and having a carrier adaptedto receive a cartridge from the magazine and transfer it to a positionforward of the front face of the open breechpiece.

In the smaller class of arms-such as adapted to use 22 cartridges-it isimportant that the arm shall be adapted to use various lengths ofcartridges, such as found in the market. If the carrier be adapted toreceive the longer cartridge, and so that the first cartridge passingonto the carrier may serve as a stop for the next, to prevent itspassing so far from the magazine as to interfere with the upand-downmovement of the carrier, then when the shorter cartridges are introducedthe spring of the magazine will force the column rearward, take the rearcartridge onto the carrier to the same extent that the longer cartridgewill be carried; and this unavoidably brings the second cartridge partlyinto the carrier and so that it, standing partly in the car rier andpartly in the magazine, checks the movement of the carrier, so that thearm constructed for one length of cartridge is adapted only for thatlength, and, without some provision to the contrary, could not be usedwith a different length of cartridge.

The object of my invention is a construction which will be adapted tovarious lengths of cartridges, and while particularly designed for theuse of smaller cartridges is equally applicable to arms which are oflarger caliber, where varying lengths of cartridges may be desirable;and the invention consists, princi pally, in imparting tothe carrier aslight upward movement immediately after the head portion of therearmost cartridge shall have passed into the carrier and before thehead of the next cartridge shall have reached the for: ward end of thecarrier, so that the passage between the magazine and carrier will becontractedto a diameter less than the diameter of the head of thecartridge, and so that the carrier itself will stand at the rear end ofthe magazine as a check for the column of cartridges after the rearmostcartridge shall have passed completely into the carrier.

I do not illustrate the entire mechanism of' the arm, as it isunnecessary to the fall under standing of the invention.

A represents the receiver, B the barrel attached to the forward end ofthe receiver, and

'C the magazine, arranged longitudinally beneath the barrel, both themagazine and barrel opening into the receiver at the rear in the usualmanner for this class of magazine-arms.

D is the breech-piece, arranged in the receiver at the rear and so as tomove in longitudinal line with the barrel.

As represented in Figs. 1 and 2, the breechpiece is actuated by means ofa handle, E, beneath the barrel forward of the receiver, and from whichhandle a slide, F, extends rearward into engagement with an arm, G,extending from a brace, H, which is hung to the forward end of thebreech-piece, as at I, and so as to stand against an abutment, J, in thereceiver whenthe breech-piece is in its closed positiona commonconstruction of arm.

K represents the carrier, which is adapted to move up and down in thereceiver at the rear end of the barrel, the carrier being constructedwith a longitudinal cartridge-chamdown position, as seen in Fig. 1,stands in line with the magazine and forms substantially a continuationof the same, and so that when in the down position, if the column ofcarfridges is permitted to move rearward, the rearmost cartridge willpass into the chamber L of the carrier. From the under side of thebreech-piece at its forward end is a downward projection, M, which worksthrough a longitudinal opening, N, in the carrier, the said openingextending from below the cartridgechamber and upward from it through thecarrier, as seen in Fig. 3, and as in this class of arms.

into the chamber in the carrier.

The projection M from the breechpiece, when in the closed position,stands against the rear end of the magazine, and so that the rearmostcartridge abuts against it, as seen in Fig. 1.

The brace H is raised from its abutment J by a rear movement of thehandle E, and after the brace has escaped from the abutment J, then thehandle acts through the brace to impart a rear movement to thebreech-piece, also in the usual manner, and as seen in Fig. 2. As thebreech-piece commences its rear movement, the rearmost cartridge followsthe projection M from the breech-piece, and so passes Soon after therearmost cartridge has thus commenced its movement into the carrier Iimpart a slight upward movement to the carrier. The carrierhasaprojection,O,whichexteudsdownthrough a longitudinal groove, P, inthe slide F. (See Figs. 3 and 4..) On each side of the groove P, in theslide F, a cam, R, is provided, and upon the carrier correspondingshoulders, S, are formed, which stand in the path of the cam R, as seenin Fig. 1. When the parts are in the closed position, as seen in Fig. 1,the cams R stand so far forward of the shoulders S as to permit such anextent of rear movement of the slide F as will raise the brace from itsabutment and impart to the breech-piecea slight rear movement before thecams R come into contact with the shoulders S, as seen in Fig. 2, and sothat the rearmost cartridge will have commencedits movement into thecarrier, asindicated in Fig. 2. Then the cams Ractupon the shoulders Sand cause the carrier to rise to the extent of the said shoulder, asindicated in brokenlines, Fig. 2. The extent of move ment thus impartedto the carrier raises it only so far as to contract the opening betweenthe magazine and carrier to an extent less than the diameter of the headof the cartridge, but sufficiently greater than the diameter of the bodyof the cartridge to permit the cartridge to freely continue its rearmovement into the carrier, which it does under the force of themagazine-spring acting upon the column of cartridges; but as the head ofthe next or second cartridge arrives at the rear end of the magazine itfinds the opening too small for it to pass into the carrier, the carrierthere standing as a stop or check for the column of carbreech-piece;then the breech-piece moves forward in the usual manner through thecarrier, forcing the cartridge therein'into the barrel. In due time thecarrier drops intoposition to receive the next cartridge, thebreech-piece serving to prevent the rear movement of the column until itcommences its rear movement, as before described, the carrier reachingits complete down position, when, in the forward movement of the slideF, the cam R escapes from the shoulder S.

The transfer movement of the carrier is pro duced through thecarrier-lever T in the usual manner or otherwise, not necessary to beillustrated or described.

Because of giving to the carrier a preliminary movement, whereby itserves as a stop for the column of cartridges after the rearmostcartridge shall have been delivered to the carrier, it is impossiblethat a second cartridge can commence its movement into the carrier, soas to choke or interfere with the transfer movement of the carrier.

I have thus far illustrated the invention as applied to an arm in whichthe mechanism is operated by a sliding handle forward of the receiver;but the invention is equally applicable to other operative mechanisms,as may be seen by reference to Fig. 5, in which I illustrate a mechanismsuch as that employed in the Winchester arm, U being the operatinglever.In this case or represents the carrierlever, which extends into thecarrier, and so that under its vibratory movement it imparts acorresponding up-and-down movement to the carrier, the same as in theWinchester arm; but in addition to the usual vibratory movement impartedto the carrier -lever, I give to it a forward movement, which isproduced by an eccentric on the hub of the lever U, (indicated in brokenlines in Fig. 5,) and so that during the first part of the openingmovement of the f breech-piece the carrierlever a will be forced forwardto some extent, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 5. The receiver isconstructed with an inclined shoulder, b, below the lever a, and thelever a with a corresponding shoulder, d, which substantially abut oneagainst the other when the parts are in their normal condition; but uponthe first part of the opening movement of the breech-piece the shoulderd of the lever rides up the shoulder b of the receiver and gives to thelever a a slight upward movement, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 5,and this forward and upward movement of the carrierlever imparts thesame movement to the carrier which I have described as produced by theslide F, and with the same result. Then at the proper time the lever Ucomes into IIO positive engagement with the lever a to impart the upwardtransfer movement to the carrier.

The illustration which I have given'of the application of the inventionto two classes of fire-arms will'be suflicient to enable others to applytheinvention to arms of different classes, it only being essential tothe invention that there shall bea preliminary upward movement impartedto the carrier after the rearmost cartridge shall have commenced itsmovement into the carrier, and before that movement is completed. Itwill therefore be understood that I do not limit the invention to anyspecific construction of arm, further than that the arm shall have amagazine substantially parallel with the barrel, with a carrier adaptedto transfer the cartridge from the magazine to a position forward of thefront face of the breech-piece and adapted to receive the preliminarymovement, whereby the said carrier may be made to act as a check or stopfor the column of cartridges, and the arm thereby adapted to the use ofcartridges of varying lengths.

I claim 1. In a magazine firearm in which the magazine is arrangedlongitudinally parallel to the barrel, with a breech-piece arranged tomove longitudinally backward and forward in opening and closing, and acarrier adapted to receive a cartridge from the magazine and transfer itto a position forward of the front face of the open breech-piece, thecombination therewith of a cam between the carrier and the handle, bywhich the carrier is caused to rise and fall, substantially asdescribed, whereby movement is imparted to the carrier after therearmost cartridge in the magazine shall have commenced its vement intothe carrier and before that movement is completed.

2. In a magazine fire-arm in which the magazine is arranged-below thebarrel, the barrel" and magazine opening into the receiver at the rear,with a longitudinally reciprocating breech-piece, and a carrier adaptedto. move up and down for the transfer of a cartridge, the

combination therewith of a handle beneath the barrel, forward of thereceiver, aslide extending rearward therefrom into connection with theoperative mechanism of the arm, the said slide and carrier constructedwith corresponding cam'like shoulders, substantially as described, audwhereby, as the breech-piece commencesjts rear movement, the saidshoulders impart a preliminary upward movement to the carrier.

FRANKLIN F. KNOUS.

